Russia building terminal with end-to-end biometrics at Sochi airport

Russian authorities say they will build the country’s first fully biometric terminal at Sochi international airport. The project will be jointly implemented by the local Aerodinamika holding, which is the managing company of Sochi airport and Mile on Air, one of Russia’s leading providers of aviation services in the field of IT and biometrics.

As part of the plans of the partners, the new biometric terminal will be built at the location of the VIP terminal building of Sochi airport. The launch of the new terminal means that all pre-flight formalities will be completed using biometrics. So far, Mile on Air together with the Russian Center of Biometric Technologies (the operator of the Russian Unified Biometric System) has implemented a similar project with biometric passenger access in business lounges in airports of other large cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Vladivostok.

According to an official spokesman of Aerodinamika, the company is “interested in using modern technologies” in the Sochi airport as well as other airports, which are managed by the Group. The company’s spokesman also added that implementation of the project will make it possible to simplify passenger service at the airport as much as possible.

According to the partners, the project is being implemented in two stages: terminal arrangement, and then coordination of technical parameters for the use of biometrics.

Implementation of the project is part of the existing Russian state initiative, which is known as “Green Digital Passenger Corridor” and which involves a gradual transition to biometric technologies by some major Russian transport facilities by 2030.

Under terms of this initiative, by the end of the current year, at least 15 major infrastructure facilities, primarily airports, should use biometrics for passenger control. That number is expected to rise to 70 in 2026, while by 2030 the number of such facilities should reach 700 units. This year the Russian Ministry of Transport plans to develop and approve the methodology for calculating the project indicators, select facilities for participation and sign agreements with them.

According to initial state plans, biometric technologies were supposed to be launched at 6 percent of Russian airports already in 2023, however implementation of these plans was seriously delayed, due to lack of funding and the needed technologies, caused by sanctions.

In general, there are more than 180 functioning airports in Russia at present, however most of analysts believe the government will probably be unable to complete the introduction of biometrics at all of them even by 2030.

At the same time, according to the Ministry of Transport, in addition to airports, there are plans for more biometric technology launches at other transport facilities, such as city metros.

Airport biometrics adoption gradual so far

At Russia’s airports, biometric technologies have been gradually introduced over a number of years. In 2021 the Moscow Domodedovo airport announced the introduction of passenger control using face biometrics, following a successful pilot. In 2019, testing of biometric identification booths at border crossings began at another Moscow airport, Sheremetyevo. The project in the Airport’s Terminal C has been fully operational since July 2021. In summer of 2022, the airport reported that more than 500,000 travelers used its biometric services in a year.

In the meantime, at the beginning of 2021, the St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport also purchased biometric equipment for all checkpoints and posts at the entrance to the controlled area.

The Ministry of Digital Development also planned to test boarding using biometrics from October 2022 to September 2023. The experiment was planned to be conducted at Sheremetyevo. In April 2023, Sergei Pashinsky, director of the airport’s IT production management systems directorate, said that the launch of the experiment had been postponed due to the introduction of enhanced security at airports in connection with the war.

Article Topics

airports  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  Mile on Air  |  passenger processing  |  Russia  |  Unified Biometrics System